Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

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Tlu> 's lirow grew dark, and ho seized her with no
eried; "loose him; or by all the powers
:ihove ami below, m do ye a mischief."
But still closely to her uncle, uttering scream af-
ter scream, in hopes of bringing some one to her aid.
"llould yei- tongue, will ye, or shall I make ye?" said the
savage, funv ling in his pocket as if for a knife. Happily, one
of the others now interfered by catching hold of Ids arm, mid
saying:
"
Xo, no, Shane ! For
the ould one it's nil fair enough. He's
a spy and a thraytor, and desarvin' his doom. But you shan't
touch the young one with my good will."
" Nor with mine, " " Nor mine, "echoed several voices among
the men, many of whom knew May by sight, although not by
name, and loved her for her good and gentle deeds among the
poor.
"Shan't I though ?" cried Shane, dropping May's arm and
" Dhar-a-loursa !
turning round upon his new opponents.
and who is to prevent me, I wonder ?"
"He who would avenge her," said a voice at his elbow.
The smuggler turned with something like fear depicted in his
bold countenance, and met the eyes of Father Netterville gazing
sadly upon him.
" My children," continued the good man,
looking slowly round, and recognizing many of his own flock
in the fierce-looking group before him " what are you about,
my children ? Is it to see you com nit deeds like this one that
I have labored among you for so many years ?"
" Sure, yer riverence, he dlirew it upon himself," said one
of the men, in an exculpatory tone, while others hung back,
apparently fearfnl and ashamed at the rebuke of their priest.
" What is he on the island for, at all at all, the black villian, iv
it isn't as a spy and a thraytor ?"
"
Vengeance is mine saith the Lord, and I will repay it,"
" and who are you, my chil-
shouted Fath r Netterville ;
dren," he continued more mildly,
the privileges He has reserved for
"that you should usurp
Himself ? or is His arm
shortened, or His eye no longer upon you, that you dare to
take His deed upon yourselves ?"
" Tis a silf-definee, and not
"
a vingeance, said Shane,
murder. Loose him, May," he continned, untwining his
niece's arm gently from around the pale victim's folfm "if
he were ten times a spy, he shall go forth in safety from this
rave ;" and picking up Shane's own knife, which he had
dropped upon the floor, Father Netterville deliberately cut the
intended victim's bands, and loosed the gag which had all but
choked him.
As he did so the features of the squire assumed their natural
appearance ; his senses, almost banished by pain and fear,
gradually returned and he looked ; long and steadily on the face
of his deliverer. Father Netterville returned his troubled gaze,
and for the first time for many years brother looked on brother,
until, like a second Joseph, the memory of the Christian
priest seemed to leap over years of injury and ill-deeds ; his
heart yearned towards the companion of his childhood, and
falling on his neck, he wept over him with a loud voice.
"Brother forgive me," murmered the squire, in an articu-
late voice.
"My son, my brother, you are forgiven," said the father ;
and then lie lifted up his face, still wet with his tears, towards
that crowd that now_prcsscd around him, all their fiercer passi'
uis lulled into sympathy for one whose saintly dec la had
won their love, full as much as his saintly character had com-
niandi'd their respect.
"
My children, you must let this man go free. I will answer
for him, that ho will intrude upon you no more."
"We will, your riverence for your r
free,
he is
"
" \.>! for mine." said the priest, reverentially uneox
his head, "but let it In; for Jlin who died for him M<
us nil."
the men lifted their hats. Bold and 1:.
Involuntarily
us they were, and w-rought, by ill-usage, to many an evil deed,
they were not merely susceptible of generous impulses in tl .
selves, but dei ply capable of appreciating it in others. And
in their reverence for Father NeHerville, as a minister of God,
and yet more in their admiration of the meek forgiveness of the
life-long injuries inflicted on him by his brother, there was not
one among them, with the exception of Left-handed Shane
himself, who -would not now have risked his life in defence of
the very man whom five minutes before they were intent upon
torturing to the most hideous of deaths.
Father Netterville read their altered feelings at a glance ;
but there was something in Shane's eye which convinced him
he was not to be so easily persuaded or convinced.
" In the name of Him who pardoned His enemies with His
dying breath, I thank you, my children. But you have aright
to demand every security in my power to offer, and therefore
he shall swear."
" "
Swear ! echoed Shane, with a most disdainful movement
of the upper lip "his oath ! the man who swore away his
brother's life and lands poh !
"
Father Netterville sighed it was indeed vain to put trust
in the renegade's oath. He thought of another and a better
security.
" How did you bring him hither?"
"Blindfolded," said Shane.
" We wouldn't trust the renegade
even in his grave."
"Then bind his eyes again," said Father Netterville, " and
I swear to you he shall not look upon the light again until he*
opens them in his mother's chamber. To the bedside of a
dying parent you will surely believe that he would not willingly
bring strifa and bloodshed."
May undid the kerchief from her neck, but Shane snatched
it rudely from her, and bound it so tightly round the eyes of
speaking for the first time since the priest had entered the cav-
"
ern. For by the gonnies, if we let him off now, he's have a
hempen cravat for some of our necks afore another blissed
month is over our heads. "
Squire Netterville}
" It is written," said the "
father, sternly, thou shalt do no
that he uttered an involuntary expre.-siou
of pain. "Curse ye !
"
Shane fiercely muttered below his
breath, " it is better than the cravat you twisted round the
necks of my brave boys." Father Netterville overheard the
words, and unwilling to try the temper of such a man much
longer, he took the arm of his brother, and led him from
among them.
"
Whither do you bring me? " said the squire
hoarsely.
" To the bedside of our mother. I would have her bless
you, my brother, before she departs.''
Squire Netterville shuddered, and suffered his brother to
lead him forward in silence. The Dead Man's Cave communicated
by an underground passage with one in which Father
Netterv.lle had found a temporary home for himself and his
mother; and through this lie uow led the squire; but he pan
at the further end of the gallery, and said to May, " Stay you
here, my child, and watch him, while I go in and prepare iny
mother. "
The squire seemed struggling with some terrible apprehensions.
in !" he cried
" Do not go in, brother ! do not go
vehemently.
" And wherefore not ? I will be with you in a moment,"
said the priest, mildly; and gently disengaging himself from
his brother's detaining hand, he proceeded at once into the
recesses of the further cavern. A wild shout from their depths
instantly succeeded his disappearance. May uttered an ex-
clamation of horror, and darted after him like an arrow; mn '
ing the bandage oil' his eyes, the squire followed iu her footsteps,
just in time to behold his brother seized and handcuffed by a
party of soldiery under the command of one whose name is yet
held in execration by the Ir.sh peasantry, as that of a man
altogether reckless of human life, and under the specioi:
text of martial law, steeped to the eyes in the blood of the
guilrless as well 'ilty.
"You h :ive